Numb
by wishyouknew222
Summary: After losing Klaus, Rebekah goes catatonic.


**A/N: I figure spending almost a thousand years with someone then having to watch them die right in front of you and not be able to stop it would drive anyone a little crazy. So it makes sense to me that Rebekah's mind would sort of shut down for a while to protect her from the pain. For how I want this story to go, I'm going with the popular headcannon that Kol and Rebekah are twins with Kol being the slightly older one.**

Rebekah allowed Elijah to lead her by the hand out of the forest, moving on autopilot. Everything was muffled by a roaring in her ears and everything looked strange, her sight muddled. She thought Elijah might be talking to her but it seemed more like he was just trying to comfort her, not anything of importance, so she didn't bother trying to make it out.

She registered the sound of a door opening. _A house. Nik's house?_ Except it wasn't Nik's house anymore._ Nik is gone._

Rebekah felt her brother easing her down into a seat, his hands lingering on her shoulders and squeezing gently in a pointless attempt at comfort. Distantly, she thought she should probably feel bad for him. He had just lost his brother too and now he had to deal with his catatonic sister. _Doesn't seem fair._

There was the rustling of cloth and then the beeping of a phone. A voice, happy and teasing. She knew if she focused she would be able to make out who was on the other line and what they were saying but at the moment it seemed like too much effort.

"Kol,"Elijah tried. More chatter. "Kol! Listen to me!" The happy chatter stopped to be replaced with a more subdued tone. "He's...he's gone, Kol."

The voice was angry now, yelling. Rebekah heard the sounds of glass shattering followed by a single muffled sob. She managed to look up at Elijah. His eyes were close tight, his face pained. She felt a dull pang in response. She wished he didn't have to suffer through this alone but she didn't know how to escape from this numb state. The chatter came back, upset but no longer yelling. Elijah sighed.

"Yes, I'm sure. Rebekah...Rebekah saw it happen." A pause. A question. She could feel Elijah's eyes on her now.

"It's not good. She managed to find me and tell me the news but then she just shut down. I can't get her to respond to me. I need you to come here and try to get through to her. She needs you." More talking and a relieved sigh from Elijah.

"'I'll see you soon, brother."

**oOo**

Rebekah wasn't sure how much time passed before she heard the front door of the house open and footsteps. Elijah, who had been pacing back and forth and keeping vigil over her, went to the front room to greet the new arrival. She could make out the sound of fabric rustling against fabric, _they're hugging,_ her mind supplied, before the sound of footsteps headed towards her. There's a sharp intake of breath as the pair reach the room Rebekah was in before her twin knelt before her, her eyes stayed locked on the ground.

"Bekah? Can you look at me?" Kol questioned, worry in his tone. No response. As if it would be that easy. He tried again.

"Bekah, darling, talk to me." She could hear the frustration in his voice. Kol was not known for his patience.

"Damn it, Rebekah! Stop this!" he snapped, shaking her by the shoulders roughly before Elijah grabbed him and threw him against the opposite wall.

"Back off! That's not helping, Kol!"

"Well neither is standing around doing nothing! She doesn't get to do this! She doesn't get to shut down! We already lost Nik and I'll be damned if I lose her too!"

Rebekah made an anguished sound at her brother's name, the first thing she'd done in hours, and her brothers' heads snapped to look at her. With that action, it was like a dam broke and everything came rushing at her. The first thing she registered was pain, like someone was stabbing her in the heart and she immediately reached up to claw at her chest, scratching bloody furrows into her skin. She just wanted it to _stop._

Someone pulled her hands away from her chest and she fought against them until she registered Kol shouting her name.

"Rebekah! Bekah, stop it!" He was almost knocked off balance as she immediately stopped pulling against him, allowing the cuts to heal. Fearing she'd gone catatonic again, he titled her face up so he could look in her eyes. "Bekah?"

"Kol," she whimpered back, practically throwing herself into his arms. He caught her easily and clutched her to him tightly, murmuring soothing nonsense in her ear while she responded with repeated mutterings of _'he's gone'_.

"Shh love. I know," he whispered as he scooped her up and resettled them on the couch. Elijah had left the room to give them the illusion of privacy since he would be able to hear them from anywhere in the house.

Rebekah buried her face in the crook of his neck and he could feel the wetness of her tears on his skin. The position reminded him of when they were kids and Rebekah would have a nightmare. She would sneak her way into his room and curl up against him while he would stroke her hair and tell her that nothing could hurt her as long as he was around. How he wished they could still be that naive.

The twins sat there wrapped around each other, simply taking comfort in each other's presence until Rebekah started speaking.

"I was right there, Kol. I should have been able to stop it. I should have fought harder. I could have stayed and tried to get that stake away from Alaric." Kol scoffed.

"So you could die along with him?"

"Better than feeling this way," Rebekah muttered as fresh tears began to sting her eyes. She went to settle closer in Kol's embrace but he shoved her away and stood up. She looked at him, shocked. "Wha-"

"How selfish can you be Rebekah?" She shot out of her seat.

"Selfish! I think I'm entitled to feel however I want, I just lost my brother-"

"So did I!" Kol shouted back, startling her into silence as she sat back down. He rubbed a hand over his face with a sigh. "This is hard for all of us, Bekah but you saying things like that doesn't make it any easier. If I had said that to you..." Rebekah was already shaking her head at that statement. She couldn't even think about it. She knew losing Kol, her twin, her other half, would destroy her. "That's exactly how I feel," he muttered, seeing her reaction. He sat back down beside her and they stared ahead until Kol finally broke the silence.

"Remember when we were younger, you you would always want to tag along with the boys but none of us wanted to be seen hanging around with our little sister all the time. All except Nik. When the rest of us would tell you to go away, he would stay behind. You didn't know it but we teased him mercilessly. He never cared as long as there was a smile on your face." Rebekah gave him a watery smile as he tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"Nik adored you, loved you more than anything. The last thing he would want is for you to blame yourself. So you're going to honor your brother's wishes and accept that there was nothing you could have done and we're going to get through this just like we always do. You, and me, and Elijah are going to take care of each other. Always and forever."

Rebekah nodded, knowing he was right. They would survive because they had to. That was their burden, their curse. _Always and forever._


End file.
